Lessons Learned: the Early Adoption of Electric Vehicle Charging Stations from the Perspective of Oahu’S Commercial Properties
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Lessons Learned: The Early Adoption of Electric Vehicle Charging Stations from the Perspective of Oahu’s Commercial Properties October 2012 Table of Contents Executive Summary ............................................................................................................... 4 1.0 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 6 1.1 Background to the ProJect.........................................................................................................6 1.1.1 Electric Vehicles (EVs) ..................................................................................................................6 1.1.2 Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment (EVSE) ...................................................................................7 1.1.3 Additional Terminology................................................................................................................8 1.1.4 Hawaii’s EV Ready Program .........................................................................................................8 1.1.5 Hawaii State Electric Vehicle (EV) Parking Requirement .............................................................9 1.2 ProJect Overview ....................................................................................................................10 1.2.1 Honolulu Clean Cities' Role ........................................................................................................10 1.3 Methodology..........................................................................................................................10 2.0 Findings......................................................................................................................... 11 2.1 Planning .................................................................................................................................12 2.2 Permitting ..............................................................................................................................13 2.3 Installation .............................................................................................................................14 2.4 Costs and Payment .................................................................................................................15 2.5 Managing the Charging Station ...............................................................................................17 2.6 Business Aspects.....................................................................................................................18 3.0 Conclusion and Next Steps Gained from the Lessons Learned......................................... 18 3.1 Conclusion..............................................................................................................................18 3.2 Next Steps..............................................................................................................................19 Acknowledgements............................................................................................................. 20 2 This report was funded by the United States Department of Energy through the Clean Cities Community Readiness and Planning for Plug-In Electric Vehicles and Charging Infrastructure DE-FOA- 0000451, under the Office of Vehicle Technologies Clean Cities Program x Recipient: University of Hawaii Maui College x Sub-recipient: Honolulu Clean Cities x Principal Investigator: Margaret Larson, Honolulu Clean Cities For questions or comments regarding this report, please contact: [email protected] DISCLAIMER: This report was designed to help people understand the opportunities and barriers that have been expressed by a small segment of electric vehicle infrastructure commercial properties. This is not a legal document. The report is a compilation of questionnaires and interviews held during the period of February 2012 through June 2012; due in part to the limited time frame, the scope of this report is limited to Oahu commercial properties. Honolulu Clean Cities does not claim to understand or report all opportunities and barriers of the electric vehicle market or electric vehicle charger installations. This report remains the property of Honolulu Clean Cities for use by the University of Hawaii Maui College Department of Energy Implementation Plan, any effort to use this report as a factual or all-inclusive report is not permitted. Honolulu Clean Cities assumes no responsibility for any errors, omissions, or damages arising from the reliance on information, material, or advice retrieved from this report. 3 Executive Summary This report focuses on some of the changes being made in Hawaii’s transportation sector, specifically in the transition towards the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs). The shift from gasoline-powered vehicles to electric-drive vehicles is still in its early stages, and cannot succeed without the necessary charging infrastructure to power EVs. In order for car-buyers to feel confident in purchasing an EV, charging infrastructure must be in place in order to minimize an EV driver’s “range anxiety”—the fear of being stranded with a dead battery and nowhere to recharge. Therefore, the adoption of public charging locations plays a vital role in limiting EV drivers’ range anxiety, and transitioning toward an electrified transportation system. The islands of Hawaii have limited driving ranges, and consequently EV drivers’ range anxiety is naturally limited. This fact, combined with the fact that the State of Hawaii is 90% dependent on imported fossil fuels, has provided the impetus for Hawaii to become a test bed for the adoption of EVs and chargers. The Hawaii State Legislature has been in support of EVs since 1997 and beginning in 2009 the Hawaii State Energy Office implemented Hawaii EV Ready program that incentivized and supported the expansion of EVs and EV chargers throughout Hawaii (see Section 1.1.3 and 1.1.4 for more information on these policies). This report identifies the lessons learned from early adopter commercial properties that installed EV charging stations on the island of Oahu—Hawaii’s commercial center which has experienced the greatest growth in EV drivers and chargers as compared to its neighbor islands. This research reflects the installation of over 76 charging stations among 22 different properties, which is estimated to make up 59% of the total properties that have installed chargers on Oahu as of January 2012 (see Section 1.3 for information on the research methodology, and Section 2.0 for a report of research participants). The major findings reported by Oahu’s early adopter commercial properties that installed publically available EV charging stations are listed below, and explained further in Section 2. 1) Properties benefitted from researching chargers and utilizing industry professionals and property associations. Early adopters that installed charging stations found it beneficial to learn about the EV industry and gain a higher level of understanding regarding the technology before installing charging stations. Many participants attended renewable energy and EV conferences to ask questions to charging station companies and EV professionals. The adoption of EV charging stations was also a topic of discussion at association and board meetings, which allowed participants to discuss processes and challenges within their industry network. 2) Properties benefitted from identifying charging stations that best fit their needs. All properties that installed charging stations found it important to research the variety of charging station business models to identify the model, which meets the needs of their specific property. Overall, five different models of managing a charging station have been adopted among participants, as described in Section 2.5. 4 3) The installation of EV chargers is a simple process. The majority of participating properties found the charger installation process to be straight forward and simple. They ran into very minor difficulties, if any at all, and had a positive experience with the charging companies that they had worked with. 4) EV charging companies are also selling a service. The charging station companies that have a presence in Hawaii have created relationships with commercial properties, also known as site hosts, and are available to offer assistance. The charging station companies offered support and expertise to commercial properties throughout the stages of becoming EV ready including the charger purchase and installation. Even after installation, the companies remain available for assistance with routine checks and any technical issues that may occur with the charging equipment. 5) For properties, incentives are helpful, but compliance is key. The Hawaii EV Ready Grant and Rebate Program (described in detail in Section 1.1.3) helped to alleviate capital costs for the purchase and installations of EV chargers at commercial properties. However, had these incentives not been available early adopter properties reported that they would have still installed EV charging systems to be in compliance with the Hawaii State EV parking regulation (described in Section 1.1.4). 6) Without widespread standards for how to install and manage EV chargers, properties are defining their own best practices and early adoption trends are slowly emerging. Because the EV market is so nascent, there is no one single way of installing and managing a charging